Ontario's environmental commissioner calls for neonic phase out

Monday, October 6, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s ecosystem is facing its greatest threat in 50 years from neonicotinoid pesticides and farmers’ use of the product should be phased out over time, says the province’s environmental commissioner, Gord Miller.

But Barry Senft, CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario, says “the jury is still out on what effect neonics have on the environment and particularly on bees. There is no conclusive evidence yet and for him to come out and say that is not adding to the discussion around pollinator health.”

Miller says “these neonicotinoids are water soluble; they’re spreading in the ecosystem; they’re in the soil; they’re in the water systems and they’re in the wild plants. We’ve got declines in insect-eating birds, we’ve got declines in other wild insect populations, besides bees, and we’ve got to get a handle on how big the impact is on the ecosystem in Ontario,” he says. “I’m calling for environmental monitoring to determine that.”

In his 2013/14 annual report to the provincial legislature, called Managing New Challenges, Miller recommended Ontario’s agriculture and environment ministries undertake monitoring to determine the prevalence and effects of neonicotinoids in soil, waterways and wild plants. Miller released his 191-page report today at Queen’s Park in Toronto. It contains seven recommendations.

About Miller’s recommendation for environmental monitoring, Senft says “that is going on already” through Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency. That work needs to be done over a period of time, he adds.

Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal says by email the  government is committed to finding a balanced approach that addresses the important role both pollinators and growers play in Ontario’s agri-food industry and protects the environment.

Miller says the biggest crisis facing Ontario’s ecosystem currently is the damage from neonicotinoids as “they move through the ecosystem, well beyond the agricultural fields.”

In commenting on neonicotinoids, Miller says he isn’t criticizing farmers for using the pesticide product, applied to corn and soybean seeds to control insects found in the soil as well as to many other types of crops. Farmers were told by the government “agencies that approved these things that they were safe so farmers embraced them and they’re widely used. Now we realize there’s been a mistake made so we have to tighten back. I recognize we have to phase back and find ways to get them out of use over a reasonable period of time.”

Both levels of government could be doing more to ensure farmers, first, scale back their use of neonicotinoids and “then eventually, of course, I’d like to see them removed entirely,” he says.

Miller’s review of neonicotinoids came from an application made by citizens to his office through the Environmental Bill of Rights. “It’s my duty to investigate and respond to these things.”

The threat to Ontario’s ecosystem from neonicotinoids is greater than the one caused by DDT, he says, noting because neonicotinoids are water soluble they’re “hitting the ecosystem much more broadly and they’re hitting the aquatic insects and taking out a whole level of the food chain so we have birds falling in numbers because there are not enough insects around to feed the populations. In that sense it’s a bigger ecological hit.”

The insecticide DDT was banned in the 1970s.

In addition to commenting on neonicotinoids in his report, Miller also talked about the importance of soil health. Miller profiled three Ontario farmers in his report who are focusing on developing soil as a natural resource. In his report, Miller recommended the provincial agriculture ministry identify Ontario’s soil health leaders and integrate their key success factors into the ministry’s farm educational materials and research priorities.

“One of those farmers was getting almost twice the average yields for corn,” Miller notes, adding the farmer was getting 300 bushels per acre. “That’s a remarkable achievement and it was done by focusing on the soil.”

Miller says he’s encouraging Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minster Jeff Leal “to say we need to focus on soil.”

Overall where agriculture is falling down is not paying attention to the soil. “We have water quality problems in North America and they’re related to loss of nutrients from the soil,” he says. “Soil is a profound natural resource for this province and we’ve got to cherish it and cultivate it. Farmers and the environment will do better if we recognize that.”

The provincial agriculture ministry says in Miller’s report it agrees with him on the importance of building soil biology into soil management. Soil biology has been an ongoing part of the agriculture ministry’s soil health initiatives and is a growing and emerging area of study.

Leal says healthy soils are essential to the prosperity and sustainability of Ontario agriculture. BF